Interior, San Francisco Police Department precinct house. In the hall outside an interview room, two officers stand looking through the two-way glass at a figure seated inside.
Officer: Look, all I know is, the crazy bastard kept asking people up and down the street for a “nickel note” so he could put together a “road stake” and stop “padding the hoof.” Everyone thought he was some mental patient that escaped.
Desk Sergeant: You’re telling me no one recognized him, at all? Not one single person?
Officer: Why would they? He looks like someone dropped Mr. Monopoly in glue and threw garbage on him, all wrapped up in newspapers and shouting about cannonballs and greasing the tracks. We’re lucky he didn’t get shot.
Desk Sergeant: How the hell did we end up with him?
Officer: Someone got him into a church, and the priest finally understood he was talking about trains. One of the old ladies said he could find trains at a Hobby Lobby and directed him there.
Desk Sergeant: Oh no… (begins rubbing his forehead)
Officer: (points toward the window) Yeah. Captain Anachronism there wanders in, shouting about a hot shot to Santa Fe, wandering the aisles, and the goddamn manager calls us. Took four of us to get him in the squad car, all the while he’s calling us Bulls and saying he ain’t goin to the Big House. Called the K-9 a bone polisher, and Jenkins thought it was a gay slur, thumped him in the skull. And before you say anything, I already put him in for counseling, but you know Jenkins hasn’t been right since his husband divorced him.
Desk Sergeant: What the fuck?
Officer: I know. I haven’t heard anything like it since my grandfather was alive and would get drunk, shouting about railyard hobos and shit on the old train lines. He sounds like a 1930s mov–
The officer is interrupted by fists pounding on the glass.
Jim Tomsula: I CAN SEE YOU BASTARDS THROUGH THE MIRROR!! I AIN’T DONE NOTHIN BUT FORGET MY GLAD RAGS WHEN I SEEN THE SKY PILOT AND MAYBE SHOVE A BULL OR TWO!! YOU GIMME BACK MY CALIFORNIA BLANKETS AND GET MY BINDLE OUTTA HOCK AND LET ME OUTTA HERE!!
Desk Sergeant: sighs heavily —- Jesus Christ. OK, fuck this, we have enough to deal with here, what with Kelly asking us to arrest everyone darker than Kaepernick over at the Niners’ facility. Give this asshole his stuff back and put him on the next Amtrack down to LA. He can be the Rams’ problem now.
(OK, folks, this here is my inaugural post as a contributor, and I have decided that Travelin Music shall be the call of the day. If is it something that makes you move, makes you think about having moved, or damn well moves you, throw it on the Request Line. To start things off, we have the original hobo tune, The Grateful Dead, with Jack Straw, live from Europe 1972. Banner Image courtesy of Wikipedia)
Yeah, I can’t not…
Stephen Lynch – Taxi Driver
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRm2oTWrsXo
https://youtu.be/kfq5b1bppJQ
“Hey guys, mind giving this one a spin for me?”
– Josh McCown
Seriously, look at this list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josh_McCown
With the number of places he’s played and the number of quarterbacks who have played in Cleveland, it’s remarkable the universe didn’t implode when the two met.
No wonder he does ads for cell phone towers, amirite?
Irresistible force vs. immovable object
Cake: Stickshifts and Seatbelts
“When we’re driving far, I need my baby next to me.”
https://youtu.be/ZpP1yNRo4rE
One of my son’s favorite bands: Badlands.
Voodoo Highway
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeYYvgcEYA8
Another we should be ashamed of missing until now. Mandatory Metallica. Wherever I May Roam.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwPg8gJq_Kw
Beastie Boys:
https://youtu.be/07Y0cy-nvAg
And since the theme is about trains and traveling the rails.
One of my all time favorite Dylan songs.
You can’t be a hobo lessen you can sing the blues.
Hey, I was just singin’ the blues in a Vegas jail cell this morning on Hard Ride To Nowhere.
Rush – Red Barchetta
(maybe more about illegal post-apocalyptic racing than traveling….but I say we count it)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAvQSkK8Z8U
Lifeson’s guitar riff on this song is right up there with Alex Van Halen’s drum intro on “Hot for Teacher” for best representation of car/engine sounds in music.
Pretty obscure category, but still.
If you could cook and had a vajayjay….OK, I was gonna say I’d marry you, but this is moving too fast. I’m not ready for that kinda commitment.
Unless you’re rich.
I teach college… so you can figure out whether or not I’m rich.
And I cook quite well.
But the closest thing to a vajayjay I have is a scar that looks a little like one.
Pictures or it didn’t happen.
And I’m talking closeups….
….well, that depends upon where the scar actually is. No junk please.
So how authentic are the Tomsula posts to hobo life?
I have two. The first one is a song you should have if there are two or more passengers in the car and you’re on one long roadtrip. I’ll post the second less controversial song later
https://youtu.be/4fndeDfaWCg
#sorrynotsorry
Hahaha….I gotta +1 this just for GP.
And seriously….those guys didn’t suck sometimes.
B-52’s Roam:
https://youtu.be/MEqEg5MVDu4
I love these posts, so much better to scour youtube than actually work, because fuck work. Was just notified of a 2 hour work webex starting at 5pm on a fucking Friday. The only saving grace is I can attend pants less and make all the dismissive wanking motions I want every time the self important asshole calling the meeting speaks (checks to make sure web cam is unplugged).
Drive-By Truckers – 72 (This Highway’s Mean)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Li6Ctocsp5A
Every damned one of us…myself included…should be ashamed that it took this long for this to come up….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKggnBh2Mdw
Or this one:
https://youtu.be/dBN86y30Ufc
I understand the traffic around Cape Cod can be a bastard in the summer.
Crosby, Stills & Nash – Marrakesh Express
https://youtu.be/u7XIL67QSME
Obligatory.
The Cars – Drive
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuZA6qiJVfU
Simon & Garfunkel – America
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W773ZPJhcVw
Such a great fucking song. I love the Yes cover also
In honor of the recently deceased former First Lady.
The Chairman: Come Fly with Me
https://youtu.be/2KEPvQMkN9s
Don’t care about pollution. I’m an air conditioned Gipsy. That’s my solution.
Watch the police and the taxman miss me IM MOBILE
/cue incredible drums again
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KI8PkcDkgLQ
Commander Cody:
https://youtu.be/3R7l7nDuj1o
I few years back my best friend had a mini stroke. He was living in Memphis and I got in my car, headed to Route 66 (I-40 actually) and put the hammer down. I love route 66, my family would take it from California to Texas every summer to visit family.
I fucking LOVE this song
Thunder: Turn Left at California
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ubCofA2Y-M
First time I heard this song was when I was living in Ram’allah. Despite loving Palestine, it made me want to drive to California right then and there.
REM – Can’t Get There from Here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gD3cYh5Pp1I
Also fitting (especially for when Tomsula is riding the rails): REM – Driver 8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OSG7YQBKCE
That’s the one I searched, but Can’t Get There from Here popped up also, and I chose the offbeat. Both great.
Instrumental, but great driving song and a boogie song too.
Janis’ Kozmic Blues Band: Me
https://youtu.be/uldMl4Fpc2k
The post made me think of this:
King of the Road – Roger Miller
https://youtu.be/WrhAC0dFis0
Pink Floyd – On the Run
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VouHPeO4Gls
The Fratellis – Chelsea Dagger
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sEXHeTcxQy4
Never fails to move me out from any funk.
I love these guys. Saw them live twice. I was in complete denial about Rob Halford’s sexuality.
It was so goddamn obvious.
Zeppelin – Going to California
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IZ-jATBq9A
Don’t blame me, I’m taking cold medicine.
Black Sabbath – Trashed
https://youtu.be/xFJkNk6z3OE
CON-VOYYYYYYY
Hahaha….nice.
Jason Mraz – Long Drive
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2wIq8qggzs
Posted before, but in honor of the excellent post –
Bad Livers- Counting the Crossties
https://youtu.be/-4RZmixKprE
Oh holy fuck. KWS’s Ledbetter Heights album is 21 years old now.
That explains why this video is pure trash, but the song (Aberdeen) hits the traveling theme:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_xOv-QqVu4
Doobies – China Grove
Double significance….Field of Dreams, but even before that, bcuz one of my friends in the world is from China Grove, NC (song is about TX tho….assholes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udSHItTjWyQ
*best
(but since I have so few friends, ’twas correct the first time anyway)
Gladys Knight and the Pips: Midnight Train
https://youtu.be/IdfZnWsps34
Here ya go, folks.
And another that means “traveling music” to me (but doesn’t fit the theme otherwise), because I was trekking across the mountains of northern Pakistan with Chris Poland’s Return to Metalopolis in my Walkman. So that disc, and this song in particular, always take me back to those mountains.
Chris Poland, Alexandria:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIHY0xAR4jo
Driving from Chicago to LA, on US 40 once you hit the Albuquerque-to-Flagstaff stretch, the scenery is gorgeous and the road opens up before you and when the light turns golden, it’s just great to be alive.
I played Michael Lee Firkins’ debut CD on that stretch and it is forever ingrained upon my soul as traveling music.
This song is particularly meaningful. I can almost hear the rocks singing it as I cruise US 40 at 70 mph.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwPcn7Fz7MU
Feels like this song would also go well with that stretch of road.
I remember taking a wrong turn out of Vegas one time and heading into Arizona by accident. The pavement along that route was tinged with red. It was rather amazing.
That’s how 15 looks north of Lake Mead and up into SW Utah.
I swear, driving through the desert got me hooked on the Southwest.
Deep Purple – Space Truckin’
Me and Bobby McGee, Janis
https://youtu.be/WXV_QjenbDw
Request via Entropy: Widespread Panic – Driving Song
Truckin’ At the Winterland ’77
https://youtu.be/JaemGFgNLBo
Obligatory
I love me some Helmet. And no, whatever Paige Hamilton put together in 2004 with all new members does not count as Helmet. You can get hit by a bus any day now, Paige.
“Helmet makes me feel invincible.”
– Gus Frerotte
http://i.qkme.me/3sj2yn.jpg
BEN NO LIKE THE HELMET.
Helmet?! That’s like naming your kid, ah… Lampshade!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=d8P8X0D8DZI
Probably my all time personal favorite traveling music: Allman Brothers – Jessica
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRDivUb5EeA
This was my ringtone for at least 5 years.
They Might Be Giants cover of it
https://youtu.be/buyIDQG0Ig0
Someday someone needs to rework the lyrics of this to fit Jim Tomsula.